What's required to put an F oil cooler on an E engine?

[ToneZone]

Hi guys, just found my way here and I just bought a GS500F from a guy on Craigslist. It's an 05 for$1200 and the person i bought it off told me he replaced the motor with an earlier one when the previous owner spun the rod bearing. I didn't think much of it until I was browsing the forums and saw everyone say that the oil cooler was added because the fairings restrict the air flow and heat the engine.

So my question is, what exactly would be involved in getting the stock oil cooler to work on the E engine? He gave me the cooler and the oil pan.

The other option is to just to a naked conversion with the stock headlight (which i think looks sweet) but I worry that highway riding will be really tough. I live in San Diego and you have to get on the freeway to go anywhere. I also would need to replace the fork springs which i'm not sure how capable I am to do.

What do you guys think and thanks in advance for all your help and for having me on the board.

[sledge]

I was browsing the forums and saw everyone say that the oil cooler was added because the fairings restrict the air flow and heat the engine.

Ha! this old chestnut? I say to those people...how exactly?

A fairing doesnt enclose the engine at the top where the hot air will rise to and it directs and forces cold air across it from the front when at speed

Plenty of Es were sold across Europe with full fairings straight from the factory that didnt have coolers fitted. I have sold about 10 of them over the years and never heard of one overheating even on the hottest day. Made by TCP, this is the earlier version with the Aprillia twin light setup.


Fairing or not the engine has more than enough fin area to convect heat away and unless you ride in an extremely hot part of the world everyday and run with the cheapest oil in the world I wouldnt worry about it. Besides which if your bike does get too hot the symptoms will be obvious. It will stall and wont idle, be difficult to start and if it does it will run rough and loose power way before it suffers any permanant damage.

[adidasguy]

There is more air flow in the "F" fairing than the "E" fairing.

I do not think you will have any heat issues at all unless stranded in the desert at a stop light that never changed.

(The "E" fairing was also made by Five Stars, which I heard is the same company. The fairings are identical except for the dual headlight .vs. a single one that fits in exactly the same space and mounts the same)

[gsJack]

I have to agree with sledge and adidasguy on this, the GSs are the coolest running bikes I have owned, much cooler running than the four air cooled Hondas I had previously.

You can search the forum for it, I think weedahoe added a cooler to an older engine and probably others.  Not simple, would be expensive.

[gsJack]

Also, I vote to forget the oil cooler and strip the bike naked and put on a small shield.  I run my naked GS with a Spitfire shield summers and a big Plexi 2 winters here in NE Ohio.  Spitfire should be more than enough for sunny southern CA.  I've done many 400-500 mile interstate days on my GS with the small Spitfire and a FF helmet.

[ToneZone]

Also, I vote to forget the oil cooler and strip the bike naked and put on a small shield.  I run my naked GS with a Spitfire shield summers and a big Plexi 2 winters here in NE Ohio.  Spitfire should be more than enough for sunny southern CA.  I've done many 400-500 mile interstate days on my GS with the small Spitfire and a FF helmet.

Yeah this may just be the solution, I got it as a first bike since the plastics are already busted up and I'm sure I'll drop it a couple times myself.

How hard is it to take the shield on and off? Maybe I could run it naked around town and if I'm going to take a little trip (my dad lives about 100 miles away, it's a great ride to his place) I could slap the shield on for the day. Does that sound plausible?

Thanks for all the answers guys, I was a little concerned about not having the oil cooler and I feel much better about my purchase.

Oh and will the lazy fork spring replacement (found here http://pantablo500.tripod.com/id2.html) work on an 05? It has clip ons so the triple tree top is different. The original owner scratched this crap out of them, I think he was trying to scrape them down to bare metal.




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[adidasguy]

Only the top plate is different. The tripple tree is the same whether standard bard or the OEM clip-ons.
I've replaced fork springs that way when I knew the fork oil was new or just needed to swap one kind for another. It is fine.

Go naked or stay with the fairings. There is a whole front bracket holding the front on which has the headlight. You have to remove the front bracket and put headlight brackets on the forks.

Here's a video on removing teh sides. From there, you should be able to remove the front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2lIhoUUewo&list=UUfopOgFUP9aRZNHRZ8GAXeg&index=9

[gsJack]

How hard is it to take the shield on and off? Maybe I could run it naked around town and if I'm going to take a little trip (my dad lives about 100 miles away, it's a great ride to his place) I could slap the shield on for the day. Does that sound plausible?

Easy with the right ones.  The big National Cycle shield I use in winter can be remove by hand in a minute and put back on the same way with hand knobs and thumbscrews for that purpose.  NC has some quick removal smaller shields too.  The Slipstreamer Spitfire I use in the summer is an inexpensive one and the shield can be removed with thumbscrews even quicker as it come new with a two point mount but I've altered mine to have a rigid 4 point mount that takes a bit of time and an allen wrench.  My shields:



http://www.nationalcycle.com/

http://www.slipstreamer.com/

[ToneZone]

Cool man, looks like it should be pretty easy. Bike is getting delivered in an hour.

And the lowers area already off the bike so getting the light off should be fine. I need to put a front tire on it so I wont be doing any riding in the immediate future (it's raining here). Plus the bike looks silly with just the upper on it.

Thanks again for all the advice guys.

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[gsJack]

GSF headlight on a GSE

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=59927.msg688623#msg688623

[ToneZone]

Yay my bike arrived, took it down the street and realized I need some practice. Not riding since my msc has made me super tense on the bike!! Overall bike seemed to run well, i kept killing it at takeoff though because i didn't want to give it any gas.

[Paulcet]

I'm curious why you would need to replace springs if you remove fairings.  I see no logic in this, except that the stock springs are too soft anyway but removing fairings would help slightly.

[ToneZone]

If you use the stock F light it can hit the fender if you bottom out the spring
(at least that is what i've read)

[weedahoe]

I as going to add an oem oil Cooper off an F into my first 94 E but Addidas mentioned the bottom half of the engine was different with additional passages for the routing of oil to the cooler. In the end, I never did it, sold the bike and bought an F with a bad engine. In that F engine I disassembled, I did notice (and take pics) of the differences in the lower half of the engine from E to F

[mcg2000]

Just a useful note, even though the engine shouldn't run too hot on you as-is, an oil cooler will increase the efficiency of your engine. I'm not saying it will save you $1000 over the life of your bike, but it will make you more eco-friendly.

[sledge]

Just a useful note, even though the engine shouldn't run too hot on you as-is, an oil cooler will increase the efficiency of your engine. I'm not saying it will save you $1000 over the life of your bike, but it will make you more eco-friendly.

How and why?

[Janx101]

I'm curious why you would need to replace springs if you remove fairings.  I see no logic in this, except that the stock springs are too soft anyway but removing fairings would help slightly.

Yeah there is weight in the fairings... But nowhere near enough change to really make it a 'not change springs' situ... The inertial mass of the bike (I think inertial?) on braking or bumps can just overload the piss-weak OEM springs with or without the fairings... I've ridden both styles....of course my 300+ lbs contributed.... Slightly 

[oz353]

To the original poster... welcome to gstwins! It appears that the original owner has installed OEM clip-ons from an '89, he also painted them. They come as you see in my profile pic. As to your spring question, it is highly recommended by many here to change the fork springs. I suggest going to sonicsprings.com and use their spring rate calculator, enter your riding weight and style of riding and they tell you what spring rate you need. Then you can decide whose  springs to buy. Do some research here on our site, there is a wealth of information and knowledge on all aspects of these bikes.  Oh and do yourself a huge favor, before turning a single bolt get yourself a repair manual.

[gsJack]

The difference in the curb weights of a 2002 GS500 and a 2009 GS500F is only 16#.  Hardly more than a good dinner adds.   





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[burning1]

So my question is, what exactly would be involved in getting the stock oil cooler to work on the E engine? He gave me the cooler and the oil pan.

It's not possible. There are significant differences in the internal oil passageways between the E and F models. The only way to make it work is to swap the E guts into F cases. You'd also have to modify the frame to provide mounts for the F cooler.